Indian captain Shreyas Iyer created history walking out onto the turf at Sano International Cricket Ground for a one-off against Japan. Iyer won the toss and opted to bat first after the contest was compressed into a high-octane five-over-a-side following persistent rain interruptions.
This was the first time in international cricket that a captain from any Full Member country chose to bat first in a shortened five-over T20 International, as Iyer did. The Indian captain though explained the thinking behind the move, saying it was to test the conditions and get the squad used to the local pitches ahead of the whole campaign.
Teams:
India XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Arshdeep Singh
Japan XI: Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake, Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (c), Benjamin Ito-Davis, Wataru Miyauchi, Alexander Shirai-Patmore (wk), Charlie Hara-Hinze, Ibrahim Takahashi, Declan Suzuki-McComb, Makoto Taniyama, Shoma Sugaya-Slater.
